Defrosting an Ice Queen
by Artemis's Liege
Summary: After witnessing an Xavier Institute teacher cruelly hurting Rogue, Bobby begins to question Rogue's cold demeanor, and he decides that he won't allow her to be alone any longer. But will Rogue ever accept his help?
1. Performance

**Disclaimer:** All recognizable characters, settings, and other plot elements belong to Marvel. All and any other products and copyrighted works mentioned belong to their respective owners. I don't own anything, and I do not gain any profit from this page.

**Edit:**This is a re-post because of several revisions.

* * *

At the beginning of March, Professor Xavier brings all of them together and announces that a new faculty member will be joining them in a week's time.

"Due to the unexpected amount of injuries that have occurred in recent months," he looks meaningfully at the New Mutants, "Dr. McCoy and I have conferred and agreed that it would be best to bring a person who has extensive knowledge in the medical field to the Institute."

"I object to this proposal," Bobby says almost immediately, though not quite seriously. "I don't want any doctor but Dr. McCoy. He's the best."

"In that case, Logan can take over your field training," Professor Xavier replies mildly.

Bobby takes one look at Logan. The burly Candian is scowling at him from the shadows where he stands behind Professor Xavier, looking rather menacing with his sideburns and whatnot. "On second thought," Bobby adds quickly, "I'm sure that a man of Dr. McCoy's talents deserves much better than to sit around waiting for one of us to be injured and then trying to deal with our whining. I can't wait until he takes us out for training exercises."

Professor Xavier nods, smiling, and addresses both teams, the X-Men and the New Mutants. "I expect everyone to give a warm welcome to Nurse Ghazikhanian when she arrives. She is a human and uncertain about working with mutants. Any disrespect towards her will not be tolerated."

Maybe it's Bobby's imagination, but he thinks he sees the Professor's gaze linger on Rogue as he speaks, although the goth's face gives no indication of whether she notices this or not.

They're dismissed and the X-Men file out, none of them looking particularly impressed by this bit of news, least of all Logan, but the New Mutants anxiously talk amongst themselves.

"I wonder what she'll be like," Rahne says.

"Does anyone else think think that she might not just be "uncertain" about mutants, but actively dislike them?" Roberto asks seriously.

"Why would you think that?" Jubilee queries sharply as all them turn to look at Roberto.

"Because of the way Professor Xavier specifically informed us that she wasn't a really big fan of mutants," Roberto says without hesitation.

"You know, that kind of makes you question why she's choosing to work at a school specially tailored to mutants in the first place," Ray points out.

"Maybe she's trying to overcome prejudices," Rahne suggests.

"Either way, she sounds like she'll be annoying, boring, or quite possibly both," Amara says, closing the discussion for the time being.

* * *

The day Nurse Annie is scheduled to arrive, Bobby and Sam forget all about her, and don't even enter the house after school, instead opting to play one-on-one soccer, enjoying the first actually sunny day in several months.

It's all very much fun, until they collide, knocking their skulls against each other's. Groaning, they stagger to their feet, clutching their foreheads.

"Medical bay?" Sam asks, pain evident in his voice.

"Medical bay," Bobby agrees, gritting his teeth as his head throbs.

Slowly, the two make their way into the mansion, and proceed up the stairs to the hall that leads to the medical bay, pushing the metal door open and trudging into the large sterile white room.

"Oh my God!" Exclaims a feminine voice. "What happened?" A woman rushes towards them, young and pretty, with dark hair tied back in a ponytail. She wears a white doctor's coat, and Bobby realizes that this must be Annie Ghazikhanian.

Although Bobby wonders why the woman seems so startled when she's a nurse and therefore should have adjusted to dealing with emergencies long before this point, he decides to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Hey, I'm Bobby Drake and this is Sam Guthrie," he says, gesturing to his friend. "We just smashed our heads together when we were playing soccer, and- "

"Sit down on the bed," Nurse Ghazikhanian orders, her tone now sharp and stalks over to the medical cabinet.

Puzzled, Bobby sits down, slightly curious why Nurse Ghazikhanian doesn't take them to the examination room in the back, which contains most of the medical instruments. Sam sits opposite him on the bed beside Bobby's and catches his eye, shrugging his shoulders.

Nurse Ghazikhanian takes care of Bobby first, checking his pulse and monitoring his breathing, then shining a small flashlight in his eyes, asking a number of questions: did he black out when they collided, is he experiencing any dizziness or nausea, does he feel confused about what he did after he stood up?

Bobby answers, "No," to all of these questions before Nurse Ghazikhanian moves on and gives Sam the same treatment, but eventually she dismisses them both, simply giving them ice packs for their heads.

"Thanks Nurse Ghazikhanian," Sam says sincerely as he accepts his ice pack.

"Call me Annie," she replies with a smile, seeming much happier, perhaps because they're leaving. She ushers them out and slams the door shut behind them.

"She didn't seem to like us too much," Bobby notes with a touch of exasperation.

"She's probably just nervous about working with mutants," Sam says, but he doesn't sound certain.

"And she didn't ask us anything about ourselves or the Institute," Bobby continues. "If she's just accepted the job here, you'd think that she might be curious."

"Maybe she's shy," Sam says with a shrug. "Want to work on our history worksheets together?"

"Yeah," Bobby says immediately. "I'll do the even questions, you can do the odd."

* * *

The first week with Annie passes by, and Bobby notices that she seems distant from the students, rarely speaking to them at all, and when she does, it's a very impersonal topic, such as discussing the recent weather or inquiring about the best places to shop in Bayville. During meals she mostly converses with the teachers, answering queries from the students with a patronizing smile and clearly enunciated speech, as if she's addressing a particularly slow child.

However, Bobby believes that Sam is right in his presumption that their mutations make Annie nervous, because though she comes across as uncertain, as most humans would in that situation, she doesn't act nasty to any of them. That is, not until she meets Rogue.

Just as Bobby is running outside with the rest of the New Mutants to play a modified game of baseball, he swings open the door and crashes into Rogue, who's walking up the stairs. His momentum sends them both flying down the outdoor cement steps, and her bent elbow jabs him sharply in the stomach, knocking the wind out him.

"You idiot!" Rogue hisses as he lies there on the ground, wheezing.

Logan, who's walking past them on his way to the garage and witnesses the spectacle, commands them both to go to the medical bay. He barely looks at their scrapes and cuts, already alerted by the scent of blood and orders the other New Mutants to move along to the front lawn.

As Bobby rubs his aching limbs, he suspects that Logan just wants the New Mutants away from him. He's actually fairly certain that Logan considers all of them irritating. But he's distracted from grousing about unreasonable authority figures by Rogue's frigid glare, and he can see that whereas he has scrapes on his elbows and knees, her tights are ripped, revealing that somehow she's obtained abrasions several inches above her ankles and also on her front forearms. These cuts are oddly wider than his, with blood already trickling down her legs but still relatively shallow.

There is an unfriendly silence between them as they walk to the medical bay, Bobby's second visit that week, and something occurs to him.

"Have you ever met Annie before?" He asks Rogue. She's not really around that often at meals, although he's clueless as to where she is instead. Other than that, she wouldn't have any interaction with the nurse.

"No," Rogue replies shortly, pushing open the door to the medical bay.

Annie hurries up to greet them this time, with a extremely chipper smile. "Bobby!" She says warmly. "How good to see you again!"

Technically, she's seen him at meals and around the Institute, so this undoubtably just a show. Rogue seems to realize this, too, and a supremely bored expression develops on her face.

"How are you doing, Annie?" Bobby nevertheless returns her smile, ignoring Rogue's arched eyebrow.

"I'm fine, thank you." Annie looks at Rogue as if seeing her for the first time. "And who's your friend?"

"Rose Malentire," Rogue says brusquely, introducing herself with the alias she uses for Bayville High School. Bobby notices with some surprise that she doesn't tell Annie her nickname.

"How nice to meet you," Annie says, holding out her hand.

Rogue shakes hands. "Yes, it's unfortunate it has to be under such circumstances. Drake and I are both injured. It's nothing serious, but we probably should get it checked out, just in case," she says rather pointedly.

Annie frowns, as if confused. "What?"

There's flicker of impatience in Rogue's cold gaze, disrupting her normally aloof expression. Her voice is dangerously calm when she speaks. "Both of us have minor injuries. We would _appreciate_ medical attention."

"Oh." Annie nods and smiles, as if the reason for their presence at the medical bay has just dawned upon her. Once again, she doesn't take either of them to the examination room. "You two sit down, I'll be right back."

Maybe Southerners think alike, because when Bobby sits down on one of the beds, Rogue assumes Sam's exact spot from the first time Bobby met Annie.

The nurse attends to Bobby first, and he doesn't miss the faint expression of disgust that flashes across Rogue's face as the two of them make small talk. When Annie finishes with him, Bobby decides to stick around and ascertain that Rogue isn't too rude, under the guise of waiting for her.

"You'll need to put gloves on when you work with me," Rogue dispassionately informs Annie. "No one is able to touch my bare skin without a few side effects."

Annie looks taken aback and somewhat afraid. "Why? Are you one of those dangerous and unstable mutants?"

A beat passes in silence, and Bobby winces at Annie's insensitivity.

"Yes," Rogue says, using her best eerie stare, cold and remote as statue, on Annie, who quickly turns and scuttles off to the supply cabinet.

Bobby, having been subject to Rogue's creepy eye tricks more than once, feels sympathetic to Annie despite her utter tactlessness and kicks Rogue's ankle lightly. "Leave her alone," he says in a low voice.

Rogue sends a look of disdain his way; apparently an actual verbal response would be asking too much of her.

Bobby isn't surprised when Annie barely talks to Rogue as she cleans the girl's abrasions. After the nurse finished with the cuts, she moves on to Rogue's scalp.

"Why are you bandaging my head?" Rogue demands coldly. "I have no other injuries."

"Rogue, chill out," Bobby commands, sick of her attitude.

"Be quiet," Rogue snaps with a roll of her eyes, before letting out a pained gasp as Annie suddenly yanks the bandages away, the adhesive pulling at Rogue's sleek auburn hair.

"Stop being such buzzkill," Bobby says spitefully, though he is inwardly shaken by Annie's malignant actions. The woman has basically just tried to tear Rogue's hair from her head . . .

"Deal with it," Rogue snarls.

Annie chuckles, her laugh out of place in the charged and tense atmosphere. "My oh my, you two are arguing like a married couple. Are you boyfriend and girlfriend, by any chance?"

"No," Rogue says immediately, looking slightly grossed out by this notion.

"Well, that's good." Even though it was Rogue who responded, Annie addresses Bobby. "After all, you can't touch her skin, can you? If I know anything about men-" here Annie let out a tinkling little laugh, "-it's that there's nothing more important to them than a girl who kisses well. And if she can't kiss . . . " She glances at Rogue and smiles smugly, shrugging her shoulders.

Jesus Christ. Bobby has never before seen an adult insult a teenager so personally, without even knowing them, like Annie just did. He glances quickly at Rogue, just in time to glimpse utter loathing flash across her face as she looks at Annie, and true to her impersonal nature, it's gone before she can be called on it.

For a few seconds, Bobby just sits there, shocked by Annie's words. Yes, Rogue has been ill-mannered, but she doesn't deserve such a kick in the teeth by someone who's supposed to be there to help her.

"Oh gosh!" Bobby jumps up, feigning worry. "Rogue, weren't you supposed to help Rahne with her geometry homework? Look at the time! You'll be late! Here, I'll show you where she is!" He grabs Rogue's arm, careful to avoid the tears from the fall now present in the translucent, cutoff, black lace shirt she wore over her red bustier. "'Bye Annie!" He has the element of surprise on Rogue and manages to usher her out of the medical bay before she has the chance to rip Annie's throat out.

In the hallway, Rogue tears her arm from his grasp, eyeing him with distaste, though silent, as she fluidly moves past him with a feline sort of grace.

"Rogue- " Bobby begins, but she cuts him off with a careless wave of her hand.

"Let it go, Drake," is all she says in her usual cold tone, before continuing to the girls' dorms.

Bobby watches her go, wondering how she manages to be so controlled after being deliberately and knowingly humiliated.

* * *

The next day at Bayville High School, Bobby is laughing with a group of his school friends when he catches sight of Rogue with her own cohorts. Bizarrely, at the beginning of the school year, Regan Wyngarde, a wealthy, beautiful, and cruel junior, had invited Rogue, a freshman, to be one of her followers. Bobby isn't sure why an upperclassmen like Regan is interested in Rogue's friendship, but he suspects that it's the result of the ongoing power struggle between Regan and her closest "friends."

Possibly, as leader of her clique, she's proving to her friends, who are constantly scheming to make her look bad and get the upper hand over her at the school, that she has an ally that isn't interested in the social ladder, and therefore has someone to trust. Or something like that; at this point, it's just Bobby's theory that's still a work in progress.

Like Regan, the other three girls are blonde and blue-eyed, tall, pretty, and leggy, dressed to the nines in the latest fashions. Well, dressed, anyway; they're skirting the lines of indecency, according to the school's dress code. Although Rogue at least fits the body type, her auburn hair, cold, green eyes, and goth style stands out from the bunch like a sore thumb.

The other girls consist of the devious Blaire Connors, practically a borderline sociopath, who frequently and deliberately goes out of her way to be cruel to other people; Cassie Sandismark, who definitely isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but easily is the most self-absorbed of the group, which takes a lot of effort, considering the other three girls; and Karrin Starr, the only halfway decent person in the clique besides Rogue. Despite her elephantine cleavage that many students at the school suspect to be surgically enhanced, Karrin maintains an intelligent and rational demeanor, and her only senseless choice seems to be her decision to continue her high school career as one Regan's drones.

Bobby really doesn't know why Rogue hangs out with any of them. An aversion to Jean Grey is the one trait she shares with the other girls, but it's much more jealous on the part of Regan and her clique. Jean currently holds the position of most popular girl in school, which each of them covets, and while these girls may not be the most well-liked, they are certainly the most well-known.

Throughout his thoroughly boring journalism class, Bobby ponders Annie's actions. Similar to Blaire Connors, the nurse has chosen to voice malevolent comments to someone she dislikes. But unlike Blaire, Annie is an adult who should know better and be above directing snubs at a teenage girl. But maybe that's what Annie is: an adult with the mental maturity of a teenager, unable to let any perceived insult pass without what she considers a snappy comeback.

Cold-hearted as she is, Rogue, at the end of the day, is a friend of Bobby's, and he's not going to stand to see any of friends bullied.

So when he gets home from school, he calls a meeting for the men of the New Mutants. He doesn't trust Scott, Kurt, or even Jamie not to let their sense of responsibility interfere and go to a teacher, so it's probably a good thing that the three of them are sitting outside on the front steps of the Institute, munching on microwave popcorn and snickering as Logan attempts to teach Kitty how to drive.

"What's going on?" Roberto questions when the four of them assemble in the mansion's rec room.

"All of you are aware that- " Bobby glances at the file he's filched from Professor Xavier's office, " -Georgiana Ghazikhanian is currently an employee of the Xavier Institute?"

"Well, yes," Ray says, "she's been here for two weeks now."

"'Georgiana,'" Roberto repeats in wonderment. "You know, 'Annie' may evoke the image of a poor little orphan girl in a Broadway musical, but that's better than her real name. My God, who would choose such a hideous name for their child?"

"Twisted people, apparently, and I have reason to believe that Annie is just as disturbed as they," Bobby says seriously.

"What did she do?" Sam asks curiously.

"She taunted Rogue about her inability to touch other people," Bobby says flatly.

Roberto, who has divided his attention between Bobby and his cell phone thus far, stares at Bobby in astonishment. "For real? What did she say?"

"Well, Rogue and I were arguing, so Georgiana asked us if we were a couple. Rogue told her that we weren't, and then Annie turned and told me, so that Rogue would hear, basically that a girl who can't kiss is worthless. Here's the direct quote: 'After all, you can't touch her skin, can you? If I know anything about men, it's that there's nothing more important to them than a girl who kisses well. And if she can't kiss- ' and she trailed off there, as if to say Rogue's a waste of life because can't touch anyone."

"What a bitch," Roberto says in disgust.

"Rogue let her live after that?" Ray queries in disbelief.

"Did Rogue provoke her in any way?" Sam asks.

"She was, well, Rogue, you know?" Bobby shrugs. "Cold, kind of distant."

"That's just her personality," Ray says dismissively. "There's no reason for Georgiana to attack her for that. Annie needs to get over herself."

"Yes," Bobby replies with a smirk. "I know that Rogue isn't the friendliest person around, but at her core, she is a good person, and her heart is in the right . . ." Not quite sure what to say here, as he isn't certain Rogue has a heart, Bobby changes direction. "She's our ally, and we cannot allow a deliberate offense to her like this pass." He waves the folder in his hand. "This is Annie's file. It says here that at the place she last worked, some hospital in Forks, Washington, she was noted for making irrational and spontaneous decisions when she was really angry. I think, that if we played the right prank, we could set it up so she'll quit.

"Look, Bobby," Sam says cautiously. "I know that you may not like Annie, but that doesn't make this okay. Annie is human, and for us to go after her about this incident with Rogue, no matter how justified . . . it's going to look like we're racists."

"Besides, we're going to have Logan furious if we pull a prank awful enough to permanently get rid of her," Roberto points out. "With Ms. Munroe and Professor Xavier gone at the moment, he can give us any punishment he wants."

"Annie tried to rip the hair out Rogue's head," Bobby says flatly.

His friends stare at him, as if waiting for some sort of punch line.

"Are you serious?" Sam finally asks, after glancing around at Ray and Roberto to see if Bobby's statement was a joke of some kind.

"Yeah. When Rogue was at the med bay, Annie bandaged her head, only to rip it away so it would pull at her hair. Rogue didn't even have any head injuries. Annie just did it for the hell of it." Bobby says this with slight bitterness in his voice.

The three stare at him several moment longer, then Sam shakes his head in disgust.

"That is so creepy," he says, anger in his tone. "I'm in."

"Me, too," Ray and Roberto say determinedly in unison.

"So here's what we're gonna do." Bobby took a deep breath. "We set up the prank to make it look like we got the wrong person. Two of us will be pranked by the other two, and when the pranked try to get 'revenge' on the pranksters, Annie accidentally gets caught in the fray." Bobby smirks. "And with Professor Xavier away, and Jean in the lead for the spring musical at school, no one's going to realize it wasn't an accident until the Professor returns. Hopefully, Annie will be long gone at that point."

"Good plan," Sam says, impressed. "What's the first prank going to be?"

"I was thinking that two of you could put temporary blue dye in my shampoo," Bobby says. "You know, if the rest of the world finds out about mutants, and the public fears and hates us, someone's probably going to make a comic book and movie franchise about our lives, to cash in on our struggle for acceptance from the rest of humanity. And when they do, there's probably going to be an accompanying American imitation of a manga book to make even more money. My character would most likely have a completely different personality than me, be drawn and colored with spiky, blue hair for whatever reason, and it would look really awful and ridiculous. Then again, practically everyone in manga has weird hairstyles. But I digress. Is anyone else up for a hair re-coloring?"

"Why not?" Ray says with a shrug. "My hair is already weird. Temporary black dye for me."

"And what will your revenge be?" Sam inquires.

"Ray purposely knocks you two off your motorcross bikes the next day," Bobby responds promptly. "But not a full impact, just a forceful kind of bump. Because Ray is a very caring and responsible fellow, he escorts the both of you to the medical bay to checked out by Annie. Then, he runs and brings me to help set up our 'revenge prank.' You know how the door to the medical bay opens inward? We use a pulley system to rig up a large bucket so that it releases the contents when the door to the medical bay opens. Unfortunately, while assembling the pulley system, we 'accidentally' knock over one of those coffee table in the hall outside the medical bay that Ms. Munroe uses to display her vases of flowers," Bobby says slyly. "Annie hears the noise, goes outside to investigate, and is splashed with a mixture of grape Kool-Aid and maple syrup."

"Gross," Roberto says with a grimace.

"That's going to ruin the carpet," Ray objects.

"That hall has slate floor covered by a throw rug," Sam points out. "You and Bobby can just push the rug back when you're setting up."

Bobby nodded. "It's up to you two," he looked at Roberto and Sam, "to keep Georgiana occupied until you hear the crash. Don't worry, we'll make it really loud."

Roberto still seems skeptical. "Are you sure this plan is going to work?"

"Of course," Bobby scoffs. "I mean, a prank war taking place between students that's all fun and games until something inevitably goes wrong and someone is hurt and/or humiliated? That's such a hackneyed plot device that it's been used for dozens of Disney sitcoms and _Full House_ episodes. Plus, it's really believable when applied to us. I guess we're just that surreal."

"That's true," Roberto admits. "Okay, I'm in."

"Good," says Bobby. "Let's work on the schematics of the hanging bucket. Sam, you grew up on a farm, right? Are pulley systems your kind of thing?"

* * *

Difficult as it is when Dr. McCoy speaks to him in that disappointed tone two days later, Bobby can't help but feel a thrill of satisfaction as he remembers the expression of mortification and disgust on Annie's face as she was doused with the syrupy, purple mixture. The thought cheers him up as he trudges from Dr. McCoy's office a few hours after Jean has erased Annie's memories of the Xavier Institute and the nurse has driven off in a huff, knowing that even if he has severed a potentially valuable liaison between the mutant students and a human teacher, he's done the right thing and defended one of his friends.

Just as Bobby proceeds out the door in hopes of the beautiful day lightening his mood, his path is blocked by tall figure in black, who despite being strikingly thin, manages to keep a very nice chest, he can't help but notice.

"Hey, Rogue," he says with much more cheers than he feels. "How was rehearsal?"

The musical this year is _Wicked_, and Rogue has attained one of the lead roles as Galinda, a popular and happy girl, and Jean, of course, had landed the role of the central protagonist, the lonely outcast Elphaba. Although Jubilee claims that the casting choice somehow resembles irony, Bobby doesn't see it.

"I was just talking to Aquilla," Rogue says, an undercurrent of something dangerously close to anger in her tone. "She told me that the Ghazikhanian woman quit after you and Crisp dumped a bucket of molasses over her head."

"Actually, it was grape Kool-Aid and maple syrup together, and we- "

"What the hell am I to you?" Rogue demands. "Some kind of charity case? Do you think you can just dump molasses on people who I don't like, and then say, 'That's my good deed for the day,' and be done with it?"

Gelid fury blazes in her eyes, and Bobby holds up a hand in an attempt to attempt to placate her. "Whoa, calm down there, Morticia- "

This tactic doesn't work, and Rogue continues as if he hasn't spoken, her tone flat, low, and cold. "Let me tell you something. I'm independent. That means I'm _not_ like the other women at the Institute, Drake. I'm not like _anyone_. I don't require someone to go out and fight my battles for me. I'm good enough on my own to get by in life, without anyone to help me. I don't need your help. I don't _want_ your help. This didn't involve you, and you never should have gotten involved, because now I'll get the blame for- "

Bobby snaps. "Will you _shut up_?"

Rogue regards him not with surprise, but impatience.

He calms slightly, but still feels irked by her ungratefulness. "You always act like, 'Oh, woe is me, I'm so alone,' and then you get upset when other people try to help you! Well, guess what? It's not a crime to sometimes ask your friends and the people who care about you for help every once in a while! Nobody's perfect! Not you, not me, not Jean, or Kitty, or Scott! I was just trying to do you a favor by getting rid of Annie after she was such a psycho bitch to you! And you don't have to like what I did, but it would be nice if you appreciated it!"

That glacial green gaze rests on him again, with no indication of being startled by his outburst. Her pretty face is hard, and for the first time Bobby notices that despite her pretty face, her appearance is more than a little bit unhealthy: her complexion, while always pale, now seems cadaverous, she's really too thin for someone who has the opportunity to eat regular meals, and her perfect makeup can't completely hide the dark circles under her eyes. When she speak, her voice sounds weary.

"You shouldn't have done that. I don't want to hear your justifications for your actions." In spite of her terse words, her tone has a minor element of apology. "But you're right. It was . . . nice of you to try to help me, even if it didn't involve you."

Bobby stares in amazement as a small smile tugs her lips upward, and the expression brings warmth and amiability to her face that he's never seen before. She normally seems so much older, and now her face is astonishingly happy and youthful.

"From now on, though," she says in her regular disinterested tone, "you should choose your battles more wisely. I'm no one's charity case. End of story." She sighs. "Thank you." With that, she proceeds through doors.

"You're welcome!" Bobby calls after her, the weight on his shoulders lessened. He smiles.

Ice may be a part of Bobby's mutation, but he knows he has nothing on Rogue.

Then again, maybe her heart isn't always so cold.

* * *

**A/N:**

**A note about Annie:**

Annie Ghazikhanian was character from the comics, the school nurse of the Xavier Institute introduced during Chuck Austen's thankfully brief stint as writer of the "Uncanny X-Men" comic book. She supposedly didn't like mutants, which was weird because she was hitting on Iceman and Havok all the time, and continued to hit on Iceman after she hooked up with Havok. See, she fell in love with Havok while taking care of him when he was in a coma. But then he woke up, and was going to get married to Polaris, his long-time love interest.

But then Havok ditched Polaris at the alter because he was in love with Annie. Then Polaris, in the traditional "Mary Sue walks in and someone's boyfriend falls for her and the girlfriend is such a bitch and so jealous" fashion, suffered a total mental breakdown because Post-traumatic stress disorder, and almost killed everyone at the wedding. Afterward, Havok learned that he only loved Annie because her six-year-older son, Carter, forced them to bond in their dreams so he could have a father. Havok, thrilled at this (forced) romance, ran off with Annie to France, encouraged by the rest of the X-Men to ditch his broken-hearted former girlfriend Polaris.

Additonally the line about "You can't love someone you can't kiss" is actually canon, Annie was shipper for Angel/Husk (Warren/Paige), and told Angel that there was no way Husk could love Chamber, her former boyfriend, because Chamber's mutation prevented him from having a physical mouth.

And then thirty-year-old Angel joined the Mile High Club with his subordinate, the nineteen-year-old Husk, right in front of the other X-Men and Husk's mother, after they battled a bunch of rednecks wearing super-suits in a storyline reminiscent of "Romeo and Juliet", and Nightcrawler almost became the pope.

Yeah. Classic Chuck Austen.

Also, her real name isn't "Georgiana." I just made that up.

**A note about Regan Wyngarde:**

She's a character from the comics I use as one of Rogue's school friends. If you're curious about her, she's mentioned in "Southern Hospitality" and "Insomnia" the latter of which takes a deeper look at the friendship between her and Rogue.

Let me know you thoughts. Peace.


	2. Reaction

**A/N:** Reviews and con crit are always appreciated.

* * *

After the "Gazikhanian Incident", as Bobby has dubbed the event in his head, life at the Xavier Institute returns to normal. Bobby, Roberto, Ray, and Sam receive detention for pranking Georgiana, and unlike Tom Sawyer, they don't manage to escape the drudgery of whitewashing the wooden fence.

Jean and Rogue spend most of their free time at the school, rehearsing for the musical under the tutelage of the high school's musical arts director, a notorious perfectionist. Dr. McCoy arranges training sessions and team-building exercises for the New Mutants. Logan continues to try to teach Kitty how to drive until Ms. Munroe points out that Kitty is only fifteen and cannot so much as apply for a permit yet, at which point he stops, informing Kitty that her parents can take over when she did actually turn sixteen.

Bobby is slammed with detention for another weekend when he returns one of the motorcross bikes to the shed forty-three minutes past five o'clock, the designated time all bikes and riders had to return to the Institute. As a result, his schedule for Saturday is filled by the chore of cleaning out the carriage house that laid by the edge of the forest on the property. But he wasn't alone in the task.

Rogue has been penalized as well, though her offense is fairly minor: breaking curfew. The one who administered the detention for her is Dr. McCoy, and he's also supposed to be supervising them, but for whatever reason, Professor Xavier has suddenly called a teachers' meeting, thus none of the instructors are able to be there.

"So, Morticia," Bobby says amicably as they walk down to the carriage house, "this must suck for you, huh? After all, you spend half your life practicing for that musical these days, and now you have to waste your one free day in detention, because you have training tomorrow."

Rogue arches an eyebrow with skill that would even bring Mr. Spock to cry with envy but doesn't speak. For once she wears clothes that a normal person might select: faded blue jeans splattered with various paint colors from previous detention work, a hoodie with a camouflage pattern of varying shades of purple, zipped only halfway, and beneath that, a bright goldenrod T-Shirt embellished with the slogan, "Bayville High School Girls' Tennis". Bobby isn't quite sure if she participated on the team or just mugged someone who did. However, the vibrant colors are rendered positively garish by her winter pale skin.

The only abnormal article of clothing are the dark brown boots that she wears. The leather extends halfway to her knees, held tight against her legs by the laces that run all the way up the fronts. The shoes appear to be legitimate work boots and are scuffed as if they have seen actual use, but Bobby knows for a fact that Rogue comes from a fairly wealthy family and has probably never needed to do an honest day's labor in her life. To add to the oddness, she carries a compact metal toolbox, though Bobby can't imagine what's inside.

The old carriage house, relative in size to a cottage, sits about two hundred yards beyond Ororo's western flower garden. The set stone walkways that snaked around the gardens don't lead all the way there, so Rogue and Bobby proceed off the path down to the weathered brick building, the absence of conversation between them apparent.

"It's locked," Bobby observes as they arrive at the pair of thick doors, which appear to have been reinforced with steel fairly recently, judging by the slats of metal that crisscross over the wood. "Well, damn, what do we do now?"

In response, Rogue extracts a shiny steel key from her jeans pocket and shoves it unceremoniously into the heavy iron padlock, twisting the insert till the lock's robust shackle pops out of its wide metal body. She pulls the padlock off and lets it drop to the ground.

"Gee, thanks," Bobby says sarcastically, displeased that he was actually have to follow through with his detention.

Rogue ignores him. "Dr. McCoy said to sort out the boxes first," she says as she yanks the door open and enters. Bobby follows her inside the carriage house and wrinkles his nose in disgust: the interior reeks of must and mildew. Wooden crates ranging from size of ornamental desks to fruit storage boxes are lined up against every wall, some in stacks. But what catches Bobby's attention is the legitimate sleigh that reposes in one corner.

"Whoa." Bobby raises an eyebrow as he walks over to it. The old-fashioned red sleigh is full-sized with two bench seats, arranged one behind the other. He runs his fingers along the edge and to his surprise, finds that the surface isn't rusted. Instead the paint is smooth, as if a stablehand has just polished the metal and then gone to harness the horses to draw the sleigh.

"Weird, huh?" He turns to Rogue, who is already perusing boxes.

"Don't tell Jean about this," she advises, choosing a box and hefting it up. "If you do, she'll want to do some asinine team bonding thing and try to get us rent a horse so we can ride around in the sleigh this winter."

"That wouldn't be so bad," Bobby replies. "I mean, come on, you've shoveled the driveway, you know how long that takes."

Rogue grimaces and hauls the box out of the carriage house, and Bobby grabs one of the smaller crates and does likewise. Once out the door, he takes a deep breath of fresh air, relieved that he no longer has to breath in the scent of mold.

He places his box nearby Rogue, who has donned one of the pairs of heavy work gloves Dr. McCoy had instructed them to wear as a safety precaution, and is now sorting through the contents of her box. The crate appears to contain various metal implements, and as Bobby watches, she sifts through the parts, dividing them into two piles that Bobby has already guessed: scrap metal and mechanical pieces that might be reusable.

Glancing down at his own box, Bobby suppresses a groan: the crate is filled with various-sized pieces of wooden props that look as if they might have once been fence pickets, some with long, rusty nails halfway hammered through them.

"How did we get stuck with this job?" He asks sourly, walking over to the pair of remaining work gloves and pulling them on.

"Jubilee is on a recycling kick," Rogue informs him in a bored tone. "She was talking to the Professor about it ad nauseam last week. That gave him the idea for this detention."

"Typical," Bobby says in disgust. "She's like one of those politicians who's always promoting recycling and protecting the environment but then flies around in a private jet everywhere."

"People are, as a vast majority, hypocritical and judgmental," Rogue says darkly.

"Back to the misanthropy, are we?" Bobby asks, tossing a few pieces of wood out of his box. "Always looking on the bright side."

Rogue scoffs in reply.

Bobby picks up another piece of wood and makes a motion to throw it aside, but pauses. This piece is slightly longer than the size of a ruler and about four inches wide at the top but his fingers easily wrap around the other end, which is slimmer.

An idea strikes him. "Hey, Rogue," he says.

She glances up from her work unenthusiastically.

Bobby grins. "_En garde_!"

A genuine smile spreads across her face, but Bobby doesn't have the opportunity to muse upon her expression because she quickly snatches a broken post similar to his and assumes a fencing pose._"Procéder!"_ She brings up her "sword" up against Bobby's.

For several moments, they pretend to intensely spar with the lengths of wood, chuckling slightly at themselves and each other all the while. Bobby is surprised that he and Rogue have actually managed to achieve the level of comfort required for the two of them to enjoy their time together.

But the companionable romp is interrupted when Bobby decided to take the "battle" a step further- he swings the rod in an arc, quickly swiping the wood down Rogue's arm.

The sound of ripping fabric tips him off that all is not well, and frowning, Bobby holds his wooden stake and scrutinizes its length, realizing with a jolt that a rusty nail jutted out from one end. As he watches in dismay, a single drop of blood falls from the pointed end of the nail.

"Oh my God," Bobby manages in a delayed and understated reaction.

Unperturbed, Rogue brushes an ungloved finger along the scratch that has already welled with blood. "It's all right," she says offhandedly. "This isn't time someone else has slashed at me with metal." She looks at him thoughtfully. "It's the first time that someone was waving around a blade and wounded me by mistake, though."

Bobby is shaken by her distinct lack of concern. "We need to get you to Dr. McCoy." Hurriedly, he grabs her uninjured arm and begins pulling her back toward the mansion.

Rogue twists out of his grip, seeming vaguely annoyed. "Relax, Drake. I'm not some damsel in distress you have to drag around. I can walk on my own just fine."

* * *

Luckily for them, Dr. McCoy is back from his meeting and does not appear very surprised when they arrive at the medical bay. "You should have been more careful," he informs them disapprovingly. "And how exactly did both of you fail to notice that there was a nail protruding from the very board you were using for your game of pretend?"

"I'm sorry," Bobby says shamefacedly to Rogue, realizing that he has neglected to apologize until that point.

Dr. McCoy glances up from paging through Rogue's medical file. "Imagination is a wonderful thing, but carelessness only hurts others." He prepares an antiseptic swab and then sterilizes a needle and thread. "This may sting, Rogue. And the stitches will certainly be painful. However, you won't need another tetanus shot because you received one after that mission to New York City a few months ago, if that's any consolation."

"I think that a little pain is good for the soul," Rogue says inexplicably, to the bafflement of both Bobby and Dr. McCoy. She reacts not at all to neither the bite of the hydrogen peroxide nor the needle stitching her skin back together, merely continues drumming her fingers in boredom.

"You may go," Dr. McCoy says when he's finished, and she leaves with nary a goodbye.

"Weird girl, isn't she?" Bobby comments. "Don't get me wrong, I like Morticia a lot, but she's locked up inside herself, don't you think?"

"Quite." Dr. McCoy's tone is noncommittal despite his agreement.

"I mean, sometimes I have to wonder why she is that way, you know?" Bobby continues. "I know her mutation isolates her from everybody else, but I think she must have been really unemotional before, because she just doesn't have the right reactions to anything. When I accidentally cut her arm, she didn't even seem to care that much. And did you notice how she didn't react to pain at all? She didn't so much as flinch."

Lost in his own ramblings, Bobby didn't notice Dr. McCoy pause at his words.

"I wonder what her parents are like," he speculated. "What kind of mom does she have? Did her mom teach her to be so cold and distant?"

"Indeed." Dr. McCoy shuts the cabinet door with more force than necessary and Bobby starts at his uncharacteristically harsh tone. "Robert, I would suggest that you would return to your assigned manual task at moment and complete your detention."

"Oh, come on," Bobby protests. "I have to clean out the carriage house myself now? How is that fair?"

"Rest assured that Rogue will be allocated another chore next week when her arm is recovered," Dr. McCoy says, his tone calmer now.

Bobby sighs but proceeds out the door.

Once his student is gone, Dr. McCoy recalls the speculations on Rogue's family. "Just like her mother," he murmurs, thinking of the woman who called herself "Mystique".

Down at the carriage house, Bobby scowls and kicks over the crate of wooden stakes in frustration, knowing that he will just have to pick them up again.

* * *

**A/N:** So, I want to make this story one of my shorter ongoing fics. Does anyone want to see it go in a particular direction? Let me know, I always appreciate suggestions.

Also, for a story about Dr. McCoy and Mystique, my fic "**Of Flesh and Bond**" details their history together and shares Hank's thoughts on Rogue.


End file.
